Amarcord (1974)

There's something about Fellini. I want to love his films, but they're so unashamedly self-indulgent that it's difficult to find something in them just for me. Not to say they aren't a joy for the most part, films like La Strada aside. Amarcord comes closest to love, but settles for really like. It's a difficult film at first, but once it's possible to latch onto recurring characters it gets much better. Each scene escalates into juvenile absurdity in a very entertaining way, but all are not equal as some vignettes feel like throwaways that don't add enough. The highlights are hilarious scenes like the man up in the tree yelling that he wants a woman. The sexual desires of the characters can be relatable, but it doesn't touch anything deep. It's all eventually just great entertainment. Regardless of its deliberately overdramatic topics, the rich cinematography pops in every moment. Maybe I'll find the Fellini film I love, but maybe they need a rewatch. 8 1/2 sounds built for me.8/10

This Italian film featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before you Die, and is rated five out of five stars, I will admit I may not have paid the fullest attention while watching, and even dozed off, this is the only reason for my rating, from Oscar nominated director Federico Fellini. Basically this is an autobiographical look at life in a small Italian coastal town during the 1930's, it is based on the town Rimini where Fellini grew up. There is no story as such, it just looks at young people and others who surround them as they live a year in the town, with amusing antics, both from a regular and grotesque cast of characters, all with peculiarities. While watching you could see this as mocking the people of the seaside town that the film is based on and in, a mock of the Roman Catholic religion, or just an excuse to see cinematography put to good use with colourful sets and likable people. I will confess, I didn't see much going on during the film that excited me, only regular everyday activities such as washing clothes and hanging them up to dry, stuff like that. Starring Pupella Maggio as Miranda Biondi, Magali Noël as Gradisca, Bruno Zanin as Titta Biondi, Armando Brancia as Aurelio Biondi, Ciccio Ingrassia as Uncle Teo, Nando Orfei as Patacca, Luigi Rossi as Lawyer, Gianfilippo Carcano as Don Baravelli, Josiane Tanzilli as Foxy Volpina, Maria Antonietta Beluzzi as Tobacconist, Giuseppe Ianigro as Titta's Grandfather and Ferruccio Brembilla as Fascist Leader. The best thing I can say about this film, having not really got it all, is that the characters are all good, the scenery of the town is really well made, and there are some amusing moments to make you giggle, I'm not sure I could recommend it unless I watched it closer again one day, but I know it is a worthwhile comedy drama. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and it was nominated for Best Writing, Original Screenplay, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. Good!

Amarcord, Italian for "I Remember," is a colorful and artistic film from famed Italian director Federico Fellini. It tells the story of a small Italian coastal town under a fascist regime before World War II. The film paints a grand imaginative portrait of this town as recalled by its spry director who possesses a keen knack for creative and spirited storytelling. We grow to love the characters in the film and we watch their larger-than-life stories unfold before our eyes in a beautiful and enticing way. This film makes its own rules and paints itself up as an incredibly spirited tale of joy, love, and even bittersweet remorse for a town that only could have existed the way it did in the time period it did.It isn't difficult to see the personal level of this film that Fellini includes. It is apparent how much of the story was taken from his own childhood and then injected with a wistful and almost make-believe quality of storytelling. The town in the film is based on Rimini, the town where Fellini grew up, so it is a given that this is a personal film, but you don't even have to know that to see the personal connection coursing through this film's veins. Fellini has created a nostalgic story for himself that others can also enjoy to great extents. Amarcord isn't self indulgent and it doesn't lose track of its heart and soul which makes it such a pleasurable experience.Fellini takes some liberties with the narrative style of this film as it is told in a very free-form way. It is almost a collection of short stories thrown together in a playful and creative way. The town and its strong heritage, affecting each enjoyable character, is the thread which ties the scattered pieces of the narrative together and keeps it from being uncohesive or confusing. Amarcord is the study of a town, as well as the study of people and family. It weaves all of its stories and characters in and out of each other, never losing its loving and colorful mood. The film boasts a lot of fun style throughout with plenty of humor thrown in. The film is very funny at times, but it displays a smarter and more sophisticated humor without being pompous or self important. The film's humor is an excellent display of sarcasm, irony, and cleverness all rolled into a bundle of entertainment.For everything Amarcord does, it does right and it does well. It is simplistic in its motives and care free in its narrative. It isn't anything complex or serious. It only seeks to entertain, while also provide a glorious, imaginative, and often times nostalgic look at the simpler times of life and what joys they bring us. While Amarcord isn't a film I would watch over and over again, there is absolutely no denying that it is an excellent film well worth the watch.

A jolly man in his golden years recounts colorful episodes of the past which took place in his seaside Italian town filled with farmers, families, students, and 30 visiting concubines. Director and co-writer Federico Fellini based the incidents on memories of his own hometown of Rimini in the 1930s, and the occasionally raucous journey is both a beguiling and amusing one, beautifully filmed by the estimable Giuseppe Rotunno. Fellini's fixation on big bottoms (and on breasts that look like big bottoms) isn't sequestered away for fear of making "Amarcord" look less prestigious. Hardly...the movie is full of low-ball, bathroom humor and sex-jokes, and is at its best when following a group of randy hooligan youths around town, weakest when it mixes political satire with fantasy (while the concubine episode seems to belong to a different picture altogether). An early dinner-table sequence--which, one presumes, features a typical Italian family--is staged for maximum impact (lots of gesturing, shouting and eye-rolling), yet the characters around that table, particularly the natty and unruffled uncle, become quite dear to us. The opening celebration of the coming of Spring is a bit flat, but the classroom montage which follows is hilarious and full of recognizable hijinks; another highlight is the visit with the insane uncle, who refuses to come down out of a tree. Fellini doesn't goose the story with grotesqueness, nor does he make big introductions; he allows the pages to turn and the audience to become absorbed by the vignettes in a lively, funny way. This Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film is one of the filmmaker's finest achievements. *** from ****